Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. This lady, who was much celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and still more for her extraordinary fortune in the world, was daughter of John Hardwick, Esq., of the county of Derby. At the age of fourteen she was married to Robert Barley, Esq., who, in about two years, left her a very rich widow. The next husband was Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire. Her third was Sir William St. Loo. In this third widowhood she had not survived her charms of wit and beauty, by which she captivated the then greatest subject of the land, George, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom she brought to terms of considerable honour and advantage to herself and children; for he not only yielded to a very large jointure, but to a union of families, by marrying Mary, her youngest daughter, to Gilbert, his son and afterwards his heir, and giving the Lady Grace, his youngest daughter, to Henry, her eldest son. In 1590 she was a fourth time left, and continued a widow till her death. Her’s was a change of conditions that, perhaps, never fell to any one woman before or since: to be four times a creditable and happy wife, and to rise by every husband to greater wealth and higher honours; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty. She built three of the most elegant seats that were ever raised by one person in the same county—Chatsworth, Hardwick, and Oldcoates; all transmitted entire to the first Duke of Devonshire. The Countess died in 1607, aged 87. She bequeathed all her estates to her son William, Earl of Devonshire; and we find this nobleman to have been in possession of this mansion at Chelsea soon after her death. * * * * * William, Earl of Devonshire, received his education with the sons of the Earl of Shrewsbury, his father in-law; and, being distinguished for eminent abilities, was advanced to the dignity of Baron Cavendish, by James I. in the third year of his reign; at which time of his creation his Majesty stood under a cloth of state in the hall at Greenwich, accompanied by the princes and the greatest part of the nobility, both of England and Scotland. In 1618 he was created Earl of Devonshire. He died at Hardwick in 1625. The Earl married, to his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Boughton, Esq., of the county of Warwick, and widow of Sir Richard Wortley. This lady survived him, and continued to reside at Chelsea till her death, which happened in 1643, as appears by the parish book, in which are also entries of the burials of some of her domestics. * * * * *